Daisy-chain
by smee-chan
Summary: *Aeris/Tifa* They're both beautiful and courageous (and in one case busty), but do they have the courage to admit their love for each other?


~ DAISY-CHAIN ~

A fanfic for Wannon… you requested it, canary ^_^ Just y'know…

The scenes are not all directly following each other… big gaps of time maybe between each scene… and not all the gaps are equal… ^_^

This is angsty, but mainly SAPPY, with a capital S – A – P – P – Y 

**~ DAISY-CHAIN ~**

She looked at the daisy.It was delicate, beautiful.Its petals were soft-looking, untouched by colour, untainted by the world.She wanted to protect it.

She loves me 

_ _

"Do you love Cloud?"

Tifa looked sad."I want to… which isn't to say… I love him… but…"

"He isn't _real?"_

Tifa looked at her in surprise, she'd thought the other girl only just met Cloud.How could she know?

"He's… Cloud, but not.I _do love him…"_

Aeris nodded."I love him," she said simply.

"I love him, too," Tifa said quickly.Aeris laughed."We're both crazy," she said, smiling sweetly.

She's so pretty and delicate… no wonder Cloud wants to protect her…

_ _

**_She loves me not_**

**_ _**

~ ♥ ~

She looked at the flower, struggling between the pavement cracks.It was a shining star amidst the grime, so beautiful and strong…

She loves me 

"Did you ever…" She paused, unwilling to go on.

"What?" Tifa smiled encouragingly, linking her arm through Aeris'."You can tell me…?"

She smiled, there was no way she could say it now, with Tifa so close.

"I was… just wondering what Cloud was like as a child," she said instead.

Tifa's face fell."We weren't close… I had my own friends and… I was shallow and…"

She didn't want to continue, so Aeris rubbed her arm comfortingly and ignored the nervous feeling in her stomach.

She's so strong and beautiful.No wonder Cloud respects and cherishes her… 

_ _

She loves me not 

**_ _**

~ ♥ ~

The flower was white, perhaps pink would have been more suited? But no… Aeris may _wear pink, but her soul, her innocence was white._

She loves me 

They became friends, despite all the odds.Tifa glanced warily at the girl beside her.

**_ _**

Sometimes she wished… what did she wish?

She loved Cloud, in a way, but she could tell he didn't love her.She wanted someone to hold her and tell her everything was alright… she wanted to feel warm, despite all the killing, to feel loved despite all the hate…

She didn't know if Cloud loved her friend, but how could he not?Aeris was the sort of person it was impossible not to love._Is that why I want to bury my head in her hair and cry til nothing hurts… why I want to kiss her, just to see if it helps… to hold her when she's in pain and laugh with her to ease it…?_

_ _

Aeris stirred slightly in her sleep."You should sleep, Tifa," she said softly, pulling Tifa down beside her, then falling back asleep.

Tifa lay awake, acutely aware of Aeris's warm form by her side.

She loves me not 

~ ♥ ~

She was used to beautiful flowers, but this one was different, because it represented something more.A flower she couldn't pick, couldn't uproot…

She loves me 

"Tifa?"

"Yes?"

"Nothing…" 

Why couldn't she say what she wanted to?She constantly flirted the edges of admitting her infatuation.They talked about everything else; her relationship with Zack, her feelings for Cloud, her childhood… everything but what they felt for each other, _and what the White Materia means…_

_ _

They were such good friends, how could she jeopardise that?How could she risk losing it all… and risk losing Tifa even as a friend?

"Just…" She trailed off again, she wanted to tell her so much…

Tifa grabbed her arm and spun her around."What?" she asked, laughing, "You're driving me crazy here!"

"It's just… how do you feel about… um…"

"Spit it out!"Tifa said, frowning in mock anger at her blushing friend.

"I-it doesn't matter…"

Tifa threw her hands up in exasperation, resigned to not knowing whatever it was Aeris couldn't tell her.

/_How can I face death, monsters and Hojo, but I can't tell Tifa that I think… that I might… be in love with her…? /_

She loves me not 

**_ _**

~ ♥ ~

Like a dandelion puff in the wind she was gone.Leaving us behind – not because she didn't care, but because she cared too much.

She loves me 

**_ _**

Tifa lay under the stars, completely impervious to their twinkling glory.Sephiroth had the Black Materia… and Aeris was gone…

She felt selfish for regretting the second more than the first.But Aeris was more immediate, she knew her, they were friends… she missed her… she…

/_What if I die without ever telling her how I feel… without **knowing how she feels…/**_

She didn't even let herself think about the other option… the other possibility.

She could hear Nanaki snoring softly across from her, Barret mumbling under his breath… even Yuffie's soft breaths and Cid's deep even sighs…but she couldn't hear Cloud; his SOLDIER trained and Mako-enhanced sleep was too silent… and Aeris… she couldn't hear Aeris… because Aeris wasn't there…

All of a sudden the air seemed heavier.Aeris was like a flower – she was beautiful and fresh – she bought happiness to everyone around her.Without her, without knowing where she was… life was heavy.

/_How could you leave me… us?Why didn't I tell you sooner? /_

She loves me not 

**_ _**

~ ♥ ~

Her beautiful face was all she could see when she closed her eyes, was the only thing that kept her going.

She loves me 

**_ _**

The end was nigh.She half-laughed at the clichéd thought.Whatever happened now, win or lose, she wouldn't live to see it.Her affinity with the Planet told her that.

/_I don't regret it…/ She tried to convince herself that, and for the most part it was true.She wanted to do this – for the Planet, for her friends, her parents… for herself – but… Why didn't she tell her when she had the chance?_

She hated her cowardice, she could face death with a smile, but she couldn't tell a girl – her friend – that she loved her.

"It's better this way… I can go to the Lifestream with the love of a friend."

Maybe it was true, but it didn't stop the empty ache of regret.

She loves me not 

**_ _**

~ ♥ ~

A flower – crushed and broken, its perfect beauty still evident, but marred, twisted, destroyed…Life no longer flowed inside, its growth staunched forever… 

I love her 

She was trying to be brave, to keep going, but she was dead inside.She slept by Cloud now, lending what comfort she could, and sharing body heat to be warm outside.

It hurt.All of it.That she was dead, that she died for them, that they had to keep fighting when they just wanted to die.

She wasn't jealous that Cloud loved her; how could she be when she suffered the same?

/_I'm sorry, that I never told you… I'll never know what you would have said… I'm glad that you died happy… but I wish I could have gone in your place…/_

There was no question that they'd keep fighting, they owed it to her memory.

She wanted to leave something concrete in memory, evidence that she existed, that she was mourned.

She bent to pick a flower, and paused, _the Planet has already had its brightest blossom plucked too soon… then knelt and kissed the flower instead._

"I love you."_Goodbye…_

_ _

Perhaps it was her imagination, but she caught a faint breath of flowers, and she could almost hear a voice answering her.

It must be a dream and an echo, but the air felt lighter.

/_I love you…/_

_ _

~ ♥ ~

A thing of beauty is a joy forever…

I love you 

**_ _**

Aeris looked at the glistening tears running down the face of the woman she loved._I'm sorry that I didn't tell you…_

_ _

Existence was so much more intense in the Lifestream, she could feel all existence through her veins.Life… death… it was all a continuation.

She could meet again with her loved ones: her parents, her friends… Zack.

Meeting him was hard, because she had loved him with all the intensity of a girlish crush cut short.But now there were no more illusions, no more doubts…

She loved Tifa, and she would wait for her.

/_Goodbye, Tifa, I hope you and Cloud are very happy… I will wait for you, and I will be happy for you…/_

"I love you…"

~ The End ~

Hope ya liked it… ^_^;;Thanks to Wannon for editing. 

Pwease review, this is my first shoujo ai fic, and I'd love feedback.

**_~ Dedicated to dressing gowns ~_**


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